Operation Fortitude
by Strength and Honor
Summary: With a deadly terrorist attack fresh in the public mind, martial law is declared in Jump City. Can the Teen Titans, in concert with the U.S. Marines, restore order before even more freedoms are stolen from the citizenry? ON HIATUS- CURRENTLY DEPLOYED
1. Chapter 1

Operation Fortitude:

A Fall of Justice Story

"All units, all units. Suspect known as "The Doctor" has been spotted in the Downtown area. All officers, be warned: suspect is considered armed and highly dangerous. Proceed with extreme caution," the radio blurb came in.

Police Captain Jonathan Cope sighed as he pulled off the freeway and headed into the Downtown area. The Doctor had been spotted again. Hopefully there wouldn't be a body left for the police to investigate.

For the past three months, Jump City Police had found the city under siege. With most of the world's superheroes actively engaged in the battles with the Brotherhood of Evil, the burden of Special Crimes had fallen on the Major Crimes division of the JCPD. While most super villains were throwing down with the Brotherhood of Evil, there were still plenty of regular ones taking advantage of the empty T.

One such example was the current asshole Major Crimes had been following since the super war started. The Doctor, as the forensics techs putting together the case had dubbed him, had started a killing spree. Eighteen people in three months. All from different backgrounds, livelihoods, cultures…you name it, it was all different. Profilers were having an amazingly tough time nailing this guy down.

The break they'd gotten here could prove to be promising. ESU and S.W.A.T. had been on high alert the last three weeks, in hopes of catching a good lead and nailing the motherfucker.

"This is Captain Cope. Any more specifics than "Downtown?" he called in.

"Captain, portables cannot provide anything more specific than Downtown Business Plaza area," Dispatch reported back.

"Alright. I'm heading towards downtown. Tell ESU to be ready in five minutes," Cope radioed in. As one of the senior members of the investigation, Cope had been given authority to activate ESU if he felt there was a legitimate opportunity.

"Portable 4877 reporting from Downtown Plaza. Suspect walked into The Red Dragon Hotel. Appears not to know he's being followed," a beat cop called in.

With these words, several things were set in motion, the scale of which people could not even imagine. Within thirty seconds of that information coming in, three full S.W.A.T. teams were activated. Two minutes later, no less than fifty tactical personnel were rumbling towards the objective.

While all of this was going on, patrol cars from all over the city were rerouted to the area outside of the Red Dragon.

In fact, by the time Captain Cope arrived on scene, the area looked like a war zone waiting to happen.

_Maybe it is…_ Cope thought darkly to himself.

Walking through security checkpoints, Cope saw the two detectives he'd given authority to. Jimmy Winkleblack and John McBride. Both of them were indulging in their chosen vices- Winkleblack was smoking what was probably his third pack of Marlboro Reds for the day, and McBride had a horseshoe of Skoal Straight in his lip.

"Evening, gents. Nice to see the tactical situation hasn't stopped you from enjoying your favorite ways of getting cancer," Cope remarked.

"Well sir, I'd rather smoke and be happy, than just bottle that shit up like you do and wonder each day if I'm going to snap loose," Winkleblack said.

"Yeah…it's a dance with death Jim. What're the particulars?"

"We got fifty SWAT and ESU bubbas getting ready to move in, including some units on loan from San Diego and LAPD. We got three hundred uniforms here for crowd control and emergency stop-gap procedures," McBride said.

"Attack plan?" Cope asked.

"Five floors, two five man teams per floor, searching every room. Each team is outfitted with a double load of flash bangs and CS gas grenades. We have rooftop snipers in position sighted in on important areas. We managed to get a Scout Sniper team from Camp Pendleton deployed here. Lucky break. Riot police are staged in various areas to appear in case things turn ugly. Every room that doesn't contain the suspect will be evac'd and taken to a staging area due east of here. Every possible problem has been accounted for. He's not getting away tonight," Winkleblack said.

"Alright gentlemen. Looks like it's time to take this asshole down. Initiate."

The buzz of activity seemed to stop as fifty well armed police entered the hotel and began going through the plan. Almost immediately, a steady of stream of people began to exit from the hotel.

While this was going on, several dozen beat cops were directing the human traffic to the staging area, replete with food and drink, in anticipation of the long night.

It was hard to tell when exactly the plan went wrong. It could've been minutes before they heard the shots. It could've been when they sent the men into the hotel to take care of business.

"Shots fired. Officer down."

It was at this point that Cope noticed something odd. There was a large group of civilians forming a large cluster in the middle of the hotel residents. They weren't reacting quite as badly as Cope thought about two hundred people forcibly removed from their rooms in the middle of the night. In fact…

"Rooftops, be advised! Keep some eyes and ears on that crowd in the middle of the staging area! We could have a problem! EMS, what's the status of that downed officer inside the hotel?" Cope spat rapid fire into the radio.

While the snipers adjusted their aim and EMS informed him that the officer was in critical condition, Captain Jonathan Cope saw his perfect night slipping slowly into oblivion. Adding to all the mayhem…

"Possibility of the group being armed. Be advised. Possibility they are armed," Cope warned.

As he said this, Cope wished the ROE was more like what the newer officers had encountered in the opening days of the Iraq War when they had still been in the service. They'd all heard the stories, but hearing it from someone who was there made it a little more real.

The problem was that there was almost three hundred and fifty cops at the operation. That many friendlies around, someone was bound to get hit if the bullets started flying. How could they possibly hope to limit casualties? Not to include the mass amounts of civilians at the scene. And there were an unknown number of hostiles inside the hotel.

More shots. More bursts from the automatic weapons carried by ESU. More indications that this op was doomed.

Then…

"Shots fired in the courtyard! Respond immediately! Say again, respond immediately!" Cope screamed into the radios.

The entire area erupted into gunfire. It was like a scene from a bad action movie, except the good guys were dying in this one. Every shot brought another officer down, another man not going home to his family at the end of the day.

In the morbid, tactical thinking center of his brain, one less man putting rounds downrange.

Taking cover behind a squad car, Cope started directing ESU to conduct sweep and clear ops inside the hotel and to shoot first and ask questions later. It would be mountains of red tape and paperwork to unfuck after the incident was over.

As the armed group started throwing Molotov cocktails into the area, Cope made a silent plea to the Titans.

_Come back…wrap up your little battle and come back and finish the war here at home…_

**Aftermath**…

"…Early reports indicate civilian casualties in excess of four hundred and police casualties in the range of a hundred and twenty…"

"…Several groups with cells operating inside the United States have claimed responsibility for the attack, but none of them seem likely to have the kind of resources required to pull off something with that scale…"

"…And as the smoke continues to rise from the ruins of the Red Dragon Hotel, citizens of Jump City begin to wonder: who did this? Why did they do it? What's next for the city?"

Downtown, One Police Plaza

"You wanna know what's next? I'll tell you what's next. Martial law has been declared. JCPD is coordinating enforcing stricter regs while reserve Army units are being called up. From this point forward the city is in a strict curfew, pedestrians off the streets by 10, vehicles off the streets by 11. No exceptions. From now on everything is tracked- from sales to what shops you frequent. As soon as we find more evidence uncovering exactly who was responsible for the attack last night, the new regulations will be dropped.

We do not intend for this to be a long term plan. We anticipate no more than three months of this plan being in place. Please bear with us during this transition period. Thank you," Police Chief Brian Parr reported to the press.

The war has begun…


	2. Chapter 2

Operation Fortitude

Chapter 2

Return of the Titans

Titans Tower had long stood as the symbol of freedom for the city. The knowledge that five super powered teenagers stood ready to defend the citizens from every conceivable threat was more than welcome in their minds.

However, recent actions left a slightly bitter taste in people's mouths. The fact that they had been abandoned during the war against the Brotherhood of Evil had angered many, even though they could see the logic in leaving to fight the war. It didn't change the fact that the already overtaxed police department had to pick up the slack left by the Titans absence.

All of which combined to make their triumphant homecoming much less so. The Titans could feel a different mood when they went out on patrol.

"I'm getting a pretty unusual vibe from everyone out on the street. You guys noticing anything different?" Robin said.

"They're still pretty weirded out by the terrorist attack a few days ago. We just gotta show the people we're back in business," Cyborg said.

"But why are they so mistrustful of us?" Starfire said while flying over the city.

"Because they feel we abandoned them in the middle of our fight, and caused the terrorist attack to happen," Raven said, canvassing the streets.

"But we had to go! The Brotherhood had to be stopped!" Beast Boy said while riding in the T-car with Cyborg.

"It's a pretty bad situation, but we've to go make the most of it. We're due for a brief at One Police Plaza later today. They're supposed to give us the whole story," Robin said.

Later that day…

"The group calls themselves Thor's Hammer. They appear to be well organized, well led, and virtually undetectable. The name we uncovered may not even be their real name, or it could be one of many. And we only found out that name thanks to some very unorthodox interrogation methods. Don't give me those looks, goddamnit, we're at war here. A lot of my men got killed. And until we figure out who did this and why, there's going to be some unpleasant things to deal with, tracking?" Captain Cope said.

"Yes. Please continue with your brief," Robin said.

"Alright. Now, we've uncovered some things since the attack. For starters, it was at least a year in the making. We traced some of the weapons collected from the scene to an arms dealer in the Ukraine. He was found dead in his apartment, killed execution style. You can thank the Feds for that information. Anyways, we believe the group sent a team to kill him. Possible leak. We went down to the docks, try and scrounge up some info. Based on the reports we heard from people, nobody saw nothing coming in through the docks in the last year. So they're obviously well-financed as well. They probably have people in the docks too, working deep undercover.

"Ordinarily we'd have looked into this immediately, but we were so stretched that we didn't have the resources to look into anything. Between dealing with more meta-human attacks than usual to a general increase in crime, we were pretty much forced to choose what to look into. There might have been reports of arms trafficking, but that's nothing new, and it usually turns up sooner than later, usually thanks to you guys.

"Obviously, with you busy fighting your own war, we had to deal with a lot more shit than usual. Which brings me to my next point…

"The Doctor was a set-up, no question. According to what little information we have, most of the supplies came in over the past four months. With every spare man dealing with the case over the past three months, plus picking up the slack when you guys left, pretty much screwed us.

"We believe he was an agent of Thor's Hammer, working to cause as much chaos in the city as possible, and get us to overlook things that we would've normally followed up on. In short, it worked.

"Now, down to the meat. Reserve Army units are being called up to help us enforce the martial law, and the Mayor is talking to the Marine Corps to see if we can't get some units routed over here. The war in Afghanistan being what it is, that may not happen, but it's worth a shot. Just announcing the Marines are coming might get this group to stand down. 1/3 just got back from Iraq, so they might be able to help. 2/7 is combat ineffective, and 2/4 is in a workup last I heard. 1/4 is getting ready to go as far as we know, but hopefully the President will reroute them. But unless this heats up bad, which I pray to God it doesn't, I doubt he will listen. Being that Afghanistan was one of his campaign promises, he'll probably follow through with it.

"Essentially, we are well and truly screwed. Any questions?" Cope finished.

"What measures will the Army units take to enforce the curfew and heightened security?" Robin asked.

"Excellent question. The city has been divided into 16 sectors, each with 6 checkpoints to be staffed by police and Army units. The Stryker Brigade up in Alaska is being sent down here. They figure it'll be a nice change of scenery for them. Once they're here, they'll start running patrols through the city. The prevailing school of thought is that a heavily increased presence out on the streets will get the group running, and get informants to start naming names," Cope answered.

"What if we lose popular support in the process?" Raven asked.

"That is a possibility, but since this group has already proved that they can walk right in under our noses, it's a necessary risk," Cope said.

"What do you need us to do?" Cyborg asked.

"Step up your regular patrols. Chatter around the streets has everybody talking about who would be so bold as to openly launch an attack on the police. It has a lot of villains scared, because they had no idea it was coming. We need you to round up the usual suspects, basically," Cope said.

"Got it. Anything else for us?" Robin asked.

"Yes. If you see anyone you suspect may be involved, immediately apprehend him. If he physically resists, use escalation of force. If he goes for a weapon, terminate him. That comes straight from the top," Cope said.

"You mean…kill him?" Starfire asked.

"You're goddamn right I mean kill him. Don't think for a minute these guys won't stop to do the same. You're used to fighting enemies who may have been out to do the same, but at least they had the common courtesy of doing long, drawn out battles with you. The people we're fighting would have no problem pulling out a weapon and leaving you to bleed out on the street. .50 rounds make mincemeat of a lot of things," Cope said.

"Batman always taught me that killing a criminal was to sink to his level," Robin said defensively.

"Guess what kid? This ain't fucking criminals you're fighting. Thor's Hammer has been officially recognized as a terrorist organization. And guess what? They're pretty fucking organized. They waxed two full ESU teams. Guys with a lot of experience and training. These guys are ready to fight. It's a miracle nothing has happened since two weeks ago," Cope spat out angrily.

"But…" Beast Boy began.

"Oh fuck no. I don't wanna hear it. You have your orders. I expect them to be followed. Now get the fuck out of here, and go start doing your jobs. I want reports radioed in hourly."

Moving out onto the street, the Titans began talking amongst themselves, wondering what this new chain of events meant.

"I for one think things have taken a turn for the worse. We've always acted more or less on our own program, and now we're being ordered around. It's just not right," Beast Boy said.

"Yeah, but you can't deny that things is messed up around here. They need us where they do. If we go off on our own like we usually do, we could compromise everything they've been working towards," Cyborg said.

"For once I find myself agreeing with Beast Boy. Where in the city bylaws are the police allowed to give us orders?" Raven said.

"We can't sit around and question what has been tasked to us. Let's just get to work. He's expecting us to get something accomplished in the next few hours," Robin said, trying to act as the voice of reason.

"Whatever…let's just do this and get it over with," Beast Boy said with significant indignation in his voice.

Kra-kow! Kra-kow! Kra-kow!

The sound of a Dragunov DMR rattling off three rounds made Robin's body freeze with fear, and he looked around to assess the situation. As he got a full view of what had transpired, he began to relax a little bit. While an assassination attempt, it had failed. No one in the team was hurt…in fact, the shots hadn't even come close. Wait…

"Raven! Starfire! Check inside HQ! They weren't aiming at us!" Robin yelled to his comrades.

Fearing the worst, Robin took off running inside the building. But it was too late.

Police Captain Jonathan Cope had been murdered in cold blood. Another brother in arms had fallen. The only man capable of understanding the situation was gone. The war was turning before it had even started…

"Sir, the cop you assigned to take out- he's finished. And the Titans? I think they're too shocked right now to begin carrying out his last orders. We should be able to continue Operation Fortitude deep into next month. We'll have to up operational tempo though sir. Rumor has it that the Stryker Brigade is deploying to conduct policing actions here in Jump. And although we fear the day, it appears that 3/1 and 2/4 are gearing up for a rotation here. At this point, it's a race against time, but we do have one thing on our side sir.

"We own the streets. That police captain was assassinated in the heart of police and city power. If we can execute someone there, we can get them anywhere. I guarantee that until the military gets here, we will see a dramatically reduced police presence," Jimmy Winkleblack said.

"Very well. If we are to contain the threat created by the liberal extremists both here and abroad, some necessary casualties must be accepted for the sake of the continuation of our nation. The police are too misguided and clinging to nobility to be of any use to us. They've been brainwashed too effectively into enforcing all laws rather than the important ones.

"You know, it's strange. Maybe it's because of the Titans, or because organized crime has never been a major problem here, there aren't that many corrupt cops here. It's been impossible to get a man inside. Jimmy, you've been a faithful lieutenant to me for many years now. The way you finished off the Doctor caper was truly memorable, and eliminated so many future combatants when we take the revolution to the streets. Now, I need you to do me a favor," The Leader said.

"Yes sir?"

"Kill Robin."

///

For the unenlightened amongst us...

Glossary of Terms Confusing to non-Marines

1/4, 2/4, etc. -- Quick way of referring to a Marine Corps infantry battalion. E.g.- 1/3 written would be 1st Battalion, Third Marine Regiment

DMR-- Designated Marksmanship Rifle. Differs from a Sniper's rifle, such as the M40. Usually a more accurate version of a battle rifle


	3. Chapter 3

Operation Fortitude

Chapter Three

Backup

"…And with the slaying of Police Captain Jonathon Cope, long thought to be the dominant theorist and strategist regarding metahuman crimes, the bulk of his work details fall to Police Detective Jimmy Winkleblack, a sixteen year veteran of the force, who had the following statement at today's press conference:

"I tell you it…it really tears me apart to see a great man like Johnny get it like that…I tell you, the public right now, that not only will his death not be in vain, I will ensure to bring his killers to justice. His works, his life, will not be forgotten.

"And in other news, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, and 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, have had a change of plans. Rather than being deployed to Afghanistan as expected, they are being rerouted to Jump City to assist local police and Army units already en route. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, James T. Conway, had this to say:

"It's a lot to ask of my Marines to do this, especially with units already there. But it's clear where the next battlefield of the Long War may be. Not in some distant locale that Americans haven't heard of until terrorists it sponsors attack us. It could very well be in our backyards. Every Marine has sworn to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Today, we see that a situation not even dreamed of by the most pessimistic of planners arising- the possibility of full-scale urban warfare within our own borders.

"Will this weaken our position? Who's to say? With the war in Afghanistan not progressing nearly as well as the war in Iraq, this is certainly a blow to our efforts in that region. But what has become apparent in the last few weeks is that the war is closer to home than we ever could have imagined. With good luck, and God willing, this may be just a necessary precaution. But I know that my Marines are prepared to take this action to the next level if need be. Thank you for your time.

"And now, reacting to the situation they face, the Teen Titans have been mobilizing all other heroes and heroines they've ever worked with in an effort to increase their visible presence on the streets. Robin, leader of the Titans, released this statement:

"My fellow citizens,

The city has endured grave troubles throughout its history. Now more than ever, we need your support. The war with the Brotherhood of Evil has been won. We are here to stay, to see this through, to win.

I and my teammates agree- we need backup. Titans East have been called up, along with two dozen other of the most highly skilled and powerful people we've ever had the great fortune to work with.

I extend our deepest apologies for leaving. Know that we have been, are, and will continue to be, the city's protection.

Signed,

Robin.

"And this concludes our special report on the latest on what has been named, "The Thor's Hammer Incident. Stay tuned for more coverage as events unfold," the newscaster finished.

As the newscast ended, a group of people watching outside the electronics store grumbled as they walked away, not noticing a strange outsider in their midst.

A certain pink-haired sorceress had been watching the television the whole time. She grinned. Looks like she was going to pay a visit to Titans Tower.

Later that day…

"_Very_ stirring statement Robin. I think you touched a chord with about ten people," Cyborg said while playing GameStation with Beast Boy.

"I think given the circumstances, I did the best I could. We're trying to win popular support in a very tenuous time. If I reached out to ten people, so be it. That's ten less people we'll have to worry about being recruited by Hammer," Robin said, slightly annoyed. Giving orders was his thing. Public relations however…there was a reason Batman had taught him the art of stealth. Of course, living in a gigantic T in the middle of the bay while receiving direct funding at the city, state, and federal levels sort of nullified that.

"Maybe you should've sent Starfire on TV. Had her give the apology. Might've perked the ratings up a bit," Raven said from behind her book. While a bit shaken by seeing Cope's dead body in his office, she was committed to fighting the new threat against the city. All of them were.

"Who'd you call?" Beast Boy asked as he once again got his ass handed to him by Cyborg.

"The usual crowd- Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Jericho…I have the official roster posted in the prep room if you want to look at it," Robin said.

"Think it'll be enough?" Raven asked.

"I could've added a couple more, but the members I called were actively engaged all over the globe. It was too much to ask them to drop everything and come rushing here. Besides, we have two full battalions of Marines coming, plus two brigades of Guard units coming in," Robin said.

"They have to think this thing might blow up if they're committing that many resources here. Global War on Terrorism notwithstanding, this is a huge operation. If they thought that we could handle it, they wouldn't have sent so many troops here," Raven said, finally putting her book down.

"Yeah, but think about it. That many guys here to take names and kick ass, it's gotta tip the odds in our favor," Cyborg said.

"Maybe…" Robin said, gazing out the window. The city had changed so much in the time that they were gone.

"Anybody seen Starfire?" Beast Boy asked.

"She's still in her room with Silky. Seeing Cope like that hit her pretty hard," Robin said.

It had hit them all hard. The beast of a man they had been talking to just moments before had been torn apart by the high-velocity rounds. The bulletproof glass hadn't done a thing.

"Want me to go talk to her?" Raven asked.

"Give her some time…she'll come out when she's ready," Robin said, once again looking out the window. He noticed something in the bay…a boat. Coming fast towards the island.

"Cyborg…sensors picked up anything?" Robin said with a frown.

"Not a thing yet…why?"

"We have company."

Just then, Raven got a call on her communicator. Frowning, since three of the four people who would call her were in the room, she looked at who was calling. She let out a small gasp.

"Guys…I think it's Jinx," Raven said, still not believing what she was seeing on the screen.

"Did we really give her one of those? Aw, man! Those things take forever to encrypt…why did we give her one?" Cyborg said with considerable anguish.

"Maybe because she saved our asses in that final battle…and she hasn't been on the blotter since then. I hear she even picked up a steady job," Robin said.

"Worst thing that we can do at this point is see what she wants. Five on one shouldn't be too hard to handle," Raven said.

"Very well…let her through," Robin said as the boat slowed to a veritable crawl. Jinx was obviously expecting to be attacked by now.

"I'll patch her through," Raven said, realizing she had essentially ignored the call.

"IT'S ABOUT TIME! Jeez, all I want to do is say hi to my former enemies, and this is the way I get treated…people these days," a bubbly voice said over the main intercom.

"Jinx…what brings you to our home?" Robin said as diplomatically as possible.

"I saw the news, it said you guys needed help. I'm just answering an open ad, as far as I'm concerned. 'Sides, what can I say? I missed you guys," Jinx said.

Sighing, Robin punched in the stand down code for the security system.

"Don't make us regret this…" Robin said.

"Don't worry! Hey Raven, you ever get a new wardrobe? Blue definitely STILL isn't your color," Jinx said.

"_I'm_ regretting this already," Raven said icily.

As she walked into Titans Tower, Jinx reflected on the last time she had been in this building. She had just taken it by force, and had been rummaging through all of her rival's belongings. Jinx smiled inwardly remembering that moment. She'd had no idea that the Titans could adapt to new enemies so quickly. But that was a different time. They had more important things to deal with now.

"I still can't believe the city granted you a full pardon," Robin said.

"Well, the city was impressed when they saw that I'd taken up a regular job instead of boosting items and pawning them off. Plus, helping you guys in the last battle made up for a lot of stuff. Sooo, here I am!" Jinx said beaming.

"This could be a trick! You could be a spy!" Beast Boy said.

"That would be too obvious. Besides, apart from that little killer incident, I'm pretty sure they hate villains as much as everybody else does," Jinx said with a sigh.

"We're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, since we're a tad overextended right now. But just try and be the one to make us regret letting you in. We'll make you wish you'd stayed away for a long, long time," Robin said fiercely.

"Hey. I live in this city too. I want to see it safe just as much as you guys," Jinx said coolly.

"Perhaps we should take her words at face value. I can't say with one hundred percent certainty, but I'm fairly certain she means us no ill wishes. Face it guys, we're facing a very real possibility of losing a war that hasn't even started. Our allies are slowly being eliminated," Raven said.

"There's been some rumors in the underground, too Robin. Old mob hit men and the like being solicited for a big job. The payout offered is extraordinary," Cyborg said.

"Who?" Beast Boy said.

"Well, it won't be the mayor. After Cope got it in the heart of police power, he was relocated outside the city," Raven said.

Just then they were interrupted by Starfire coming into the main room. She headed for the fridge and pulled out a bottle of mustard. Silently drinking the bitter condiment, she sat down at the table.

"Starfire! Haven't seen you in forever! How you been?" Jinx said happily.

Starfire looked for a minute to see who it was. Registering who it was, she jumped back in shock.

"Friends! To arms! Jinx is here!" Starfire said while powering up.

"Easy Star, Jinx is here as an ally. We can use all the help we can get," Cyborg said.

"It's alright Starfire. She's a friend," Robin said soothingly.

Still not entirely believing them, she sat down hesitantly.

"You feeling better Starfire?" Cyborg asked as delicately as possible.

"Much. Spending time with Silky was most beneficial to getting over such a horrible experience," Starfire said.

"That's good. We were really worried about you," Beast Boy said.

"I do not believe that I am back to my 'old self' as you put it, but I am certain that I will be back to that soon," Starfire said, forcing a smile.

"Very well. Now, down to business. The city has been divided up into sixteen sections. The Marines are still getting some last minute tweaks to their training evolution before they come here, so they might be a week or two out. Army units start arriving tomorrow. Titans East will be here tonight, and the rest of the people we called up will be coming throughout the week. We need to come up with a rotation, and where to deploy them at," Robin said, switching to full-bore leader mode.

"Well, most of the Guard units being called up will have a major contingent of vehicles, so they might be able to effectively switch back and forth between checkpoints and go on regular patrols," Raven said.

"No, I've been in contact with the officer in charge of the Army units. He doesn't want us changing it up that much. Seems he's worried about confusion. He has a valid point. With ninety six checkpoints to cycle through between, they're probably going to be stretched thin as it is. The plan Cope designed called for sixty soldiers at each checkpoint, with whatever forces left to go out on patrol. The general in charge agreed to the plan, but he's got his own rotation schedule. We'll let them sort it out when they get here. The Marines are going to be a wild card though," Robin said.

"Why's that?" Beast Boy asked.

"Lemme guess. They took one look at the plan and said it was stupid," Jinx said.

"They were a bit more vulgar about it, but yes. Seems like they want to bring the fight to Thor's Hammer," Robin said.

"What are you thinking?" Starfire asked, intrigued by the strategizing.

"We could have a couple companies head out on patrol each day in areas the Army doesn't frequent as much, but I think the bulk of their forces should be kept in reserve as a quick reaction strike force," Jinx said.

"Have them conduct raids and provide support in case things get hairy out there?" Cyborg asked.

"Exactly. Think about it. One rifle company has around two hundred and fifty Marines. They're going to be armed to the teeth, they're going to be pissed off, and they're gonna want to get some. If we not so subtly let slip into the world that we have almost two thousand Marines just waiting to pounce on the city, things might cool down substantially," Jinx said with her trademark Cheshire cat grin.

"Something tells me that a group with enough balls to attack S.W.A.T. teams and ESU units that they wouldn't be afraid to throw down against the Marines," Cyborg said.

"Still, couldn't hurt. Marines are America's pit bull. We beat them, mistreat them, then once in a while let them out to do work," Jinx said.

"I'll inform the battalion commanders of the rough strategy. They might have plans of their own," Robin said.

"Inform me…who are these 'Marines' you keep speaking of?" Starfire inquired. It seemed there was always some new military organization in her adopted country.

"Duuuude! They're like, awesome. The Doom Patrol always told me some good stories about them. Secret stuff they used to do a long time ago," Beast Boy said.

"The Marine Corps is America's 9-1-1 Force. When the President deems necessary, they can be called out to do anything he thinks they should do," Robin said.

"But would that not require a vote by your legislative body?" Starfire asked.

"Nope. National Security Act of 1947 states that the Marine Corps is under the direct authority of the President. He gives the call, they move in," Cyborg said.

"We're getting off track. Let's focus on the people we _can_ deploy with a fair amount of knowledge," Raven said. She was talking of course about the more than twenty five superheroes converging on the city within the next few days.

"Right. With sixteen sectors, we can deploy sixteen two man teams to patrol the city. Between Titans East, us, and the twenty four free agents, that should be just about enough manpower to effectively do it," Robin said.

"How will we track findings and report in?" Beast Boy asked.

"Cyborg is working on making enough communicators for all the people coming in, as well as setting up comm-links with both the National Guard units and the Marines," Robin said.

"One thing's for sure. With this many forces deployed here, this group is going to have a hard time finding places to hide," Jinx said.

"You never know though. We don't know how far this group reaches, what their forces mainly consist of, what weapons systems they might have, none of that. We'll need to gather a lot of hard intel in a short amount of time if we hope to be successful," Robin said.

"What do you mean how far they reach?" Starfire asked.

"He's talking about how much influence they have, and in what places. Typically a lot of terrorist organizations have backing coming in from somewhere high up, like a national government. Given the response to the situation at hand, it's doubtful that they have any in the House or the Senate, seeing how quickly they railroaded the vote to send in the Army. Might they have someone in other places, we don't know.

"The IRA was funded for years by rich Bostonians who had nothing better to do with their fat stacks of cash. They have to be getting their funding from somewhere. They have to be getting their information from somewhere. That's what he's talking about. That's what we need to find out," Jinx said.

"Alright, here's what we need to do. Beast Boy, start getting guest rooms ready. We need enough rooms ready for about thirty people. Cyborg, I need you to start prepping gear. We might as well break out everything. You never know what could come in handy.

"Raven, I want you to run diagnostics on the Tower's security system. Cyborg can help you with that once the gear has been taken care of. Starfire and Jinx, you two need to get as many financial records as you can from the last six months and start poring through them. Look for odd amounts of donations, especially to groups you haven't heard of before. Trust nothing until you get it confirmed by an additional source.

I have a meeting with the battalion commanders from the Marines in an hour, so I need to get ready for that. Everyone understand their assignments?" Robin said.

Seeing the affirmative head bobbing, Robin dismissed the team and they set out about their tasks. Knowing the job would get done, Robin began prepping for his meetings.


	4. Chapter 4

Operation Fortitude

Chapter 4

Balls of the Corps

A/N: Quick note. If it's in parentheses, that's me explaining to you what all the jargon and slang means.

"Alright, get the gear set up! We're on a timetable here! Jacks, get the ammo set up in the staging area! Reyes, get the comms working! Everyone else, get with your team leaders! We're Oscar Mike in 30!" Sergeant Travis "Bulldog" Harris yelled out to his fellow Marines as they set up their base camp just outside of the city.

"Sergeant! Any word on what the mission is when we roll through?" Corporal Andrew Mattingly asked.

"No word yet. Supposedly the National Guard is taking care of the checkpoints in the city. Battalion might want us to establish a more visible presence. This is all just conjecture. L.T. is gonna have more info when he gets back from the brief," Harris replied.

Watching the flurry of activity from the Battalion Tent, Robin couldn't help but smile. Two days ago he'd met with the men in charge of the units being sent in, and was told that they wouldn't be in the area for another week or so. Word changes fast…

"Sergeant Harris! Rally the team leaders. Chaos has a mission for us," First Lieutenant Bradford said.

"Yes, sir! First Platoon team leaders! Rally in the staging area! LT needs us for a brief!" Harris shouted.

Five minutes later, the men were assembled around a Humvee discussing the patrol route.

"Alright gents, nothing serious, basic hook and ladder maneuver. CAAT 1 (Combined Arms Anti Tank) is going to give us a ride to Section 3, we dismount, play detective, if nothing happens, make our way back to the FOB. Easy day," Bradford said to his team leaders.

"Sir, what are the R.O.E?" Corporal Garrett asked.

"At this stage in the game, anyone with a weapon making threatening gestures at you. This is interpreted by me to mean pointing it at you. We have no intel on whether or not the general populace have armed themselves, so until then, we distinguish by sighting in," Bradford answered.

"Roger that sir," Garrett said.

"Anymore questions before we step off gentlemen?" Bradford asked.

"Sir, any information on Guard units operating in the area?" Sergeant Ogle asked.

"No, nothing yet. We've been given the locations of their checkpoints and apparent strategic plan, but other than that, no word on what they're up to," Bradford said.

"Fucking army," someone said.

"Alright. Squad leaders, check your Marines in ten minutes. Make sure everyone has a full ammo load out and plenty of water. It's a scorcher today. Make sure they bring a pack with extra water and a couple chows. I'm betting things get bad and we stay out there a while.

"Alright, if that's it, get your men ready. We step off in 20," Bradford said.

"Oorah sir," the assembled men said.

Walking away from the brief, Sergeant Harris walked over to his Humvee and gathered his men.

"Alright gents, I know this isn't the kind of shit we like to do, especially inside a vast urban area like this, but we got orders. Plan calls for us to move here," he pointed on his map, "dismount here," he pointed again, "and conduct a foot patrol and investigate. Officers turned us into the goddamn LAPD," Harris said.

"We got any support?" Corporal Mattingly asked.

"We might get air if we're lucky. As far as arty goes, not a fucking chance. Division has to approve it. Something about civilian casualties, but the weapons guys should get clearance for their 60s (60mm mortar system) since that's company level and of course guns (machine gunners carrying 240s) are cleared hot if we take contact. Hopefully it doesn't come to that," Harris answered.

"I don't like it man. We're not getting nearly the support we're gonna need for assaulting a city," Mattingly said.

"Right now it's not an assault. It's a peacekeeping operation. And it's what we have to work with. Grab extra water and a couple MRE's. LT thinks shit's gonna get bad out there. PCC's and PCI's in 10. (Pre Combat Checks, Pre Combat Inspections)

Ten minutes later, Harris' squad was lined up in front of him, waiting to get checked.

"Hey Redick, you got a smoke I can get?" Johnson asked.

"Yeah man," Redick replied as he fished around in his pocket for his pack. He grabbed one for himself and tossed Johnson the pack.

"Thanks dude. 'Preciate it."

As they stood there smoking, waiting to get checked, the squad began speculating on what would happen today.

"Bet you nothing happens. Only reason they fucked all them cops up was cause they had the drop on them. But we're going in knowing to expect something, and we're looking for a fight," Mattingly said.

"I dunno man. I was in the COC (Combat Operations Center) getting the timing on the radios correct, and everyone looked nervous as shit. I think they're betting something bad happens today," Lance Corporal Krentz, the squad radio operator said.

"Alright guys, you ready for this?" Harris said as he came over and started checking his squad.

"Ready to die," Mattingly said.

"Cut the bullshit. Everyone good? Got your kill cards? (Papers with blood types, serial numbers for personal gear, and any medical allergies in case the individual is a casualty) Alright guys, go and stand by near the vics. We're stepping soon."

As the squad made its way near the vics, they saw the rest of the platoon making their way over as well.

"Shit is gonna be insane! You see all those motherfuckers standing by those Humvees? QRF is ready willing and able. This is gonna be bad. Real bad," Lance Corporal Gouth, a machine gunner said.

"Whatever happens, happens," Harris said.

"Mount up!" they heard the CAAT section leader yell.

They filed into the MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) and sat down.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is Sergeant Haledy and I'll be your pilot this morning. Please take the time to review the safety procedures located in the seat back in front of you. There are three main entrances and exits on this vehicle. Driver and passenger doors in the front, and the back door you just came in. Our turret is armed with a Mk19 (Automatic grenade launcher). Additional ammo is located under the turret stand. We have an emergency exit located on the top in the back. In the event of a rollover, chances are we're screwed. Please be advised that this is a smoking flight. Ice cold water is located in a cooler in the back. Now just sit back, relax, and try to enjoy the ride," they heard over the vehicle intercom. (Note: This actually happened to me during deployment. It was nice to know that humor still existed in the Corps beyond the Lance Underground)

The ride passed uneventfully, and the Marines passed the time by talking.

"Dude, we shouldn't even be here. This is the completely wrong way to do something like this," Johnson said.

"What do you mean?" Redick asked.

"Think about it. Doesn't this smell like something for spec ops guys to do? Where's our Task Force 141 to do all this bullshit?"

"They're probably here. Doing even shittier bullshit. Brass probably thinks we're getting off easy."

"Look, here's all I'm saying bro. There's thirty two superheroes here, we have the fucking Justice League, fucking _Superman_, who could fuck shit up in a heartbeat if he wanted to…how come they didn't send in those guys instead of us?" Johnson said.

"Rumor has it there's some shit going down in Europe that a lot of the Justice League got called in to investigate," Harris said.

"Right, because the Marine Corps, an organization built around fucking shit up and blowing up everyone with heavy weapons, is really suited for a peacekeeping operation. Christ, did anyone even stop to think what went wrong in Iraq? We're suited for shit like invasions, or when we kicked some major ass in Fallujah. This is the work of fucking retards," Mattingly said.

"Hey, you think Chaos gets his crack imported or gets domestic?" Johnson said.

"I'd say it's imported, given that we really don't have many cocaine facilities in the States" Harris said.

"Hey, this right here's the dismount point! Watch your muzzles leaving the vic! Good luck!" the driver said.

The Marines filed out of the vic one by one, readied their weapons for combat, and began to patrol. They were nervous, but ready for anything.

"Alright gents, here's the area we're patrolling. National Guard hasn't been in this area as much as Command would like, so it's up to us to go through and dig up what we can," Bradford said to his platoon.

"Yes sir," the Marines said. Forming up for patrol, the three squads moved in beyond the line designated by roadblocks and warnings.

"Fuckin' figures. They warn all the fucking cops and Army pussies to stay out and they send us in to get fucked up," Mattingly said.

"Stay frosty gents!" Harris said, dismissing Mattingly's bitching. It was true though. Ever since their extra training got fragged and they were ordered to haul ass for the city, Harris had been wondering just what the fuck the brass had in store for them.

Patrolling through the city, Bradford worked to maintain the appearance of a calm leader. The truth of it was, he was scared shitless of the fact that intel suggested there were up to four thousand TH troops staged in this sector alone. He didn't want to think what would happen if his platoon were to go up against those kinds of numbers.

Moving through the sector, the net was alive with chatter from the different squads- suspicious buildings, things that appeared to be out of place. It seemed TH liked to work exclusively with ambush tactics, which would make today turn into a shit festival if they decided to attack.

As they got farther away from their vehicles, Bradford noticed something odd. There were no civilians. Pre-operation statistics had this area populated by almost seventy five thousand people.

So where the fuck _was_ everyone?

"Hey Harris, you see any civvies?," Bradford said into his radio.

"No, I don't see anyone. Giving me the creeps," Harris replied.

"Take your squad around the group of buildings to the east. Reyes?" Bradford said.

"Sir?" Reyes replied.

"Put your squad to the south…there's too many open areas on the path you're on right now," Bradford said.

"Yes sir."

Up near the front, Harris and his squad moved through the seemingly abandoned area when all of a sudden they heard the one thing they never wanted to hear.

A bolt slamming home.

"Sir we have confirmed hostiles in the Pacific Towers building! GRG 234 in the Juliet 3 Kilo sector," Harris said into the radio network.

"Fourth floor! Fourth floor!" Johnson said.

"I see him! He's bobbing his head. Mattingly, keep your team on him! Gouth! Get your team, get some fire on that building, give us some fire superiority!," Harris said rapid fire.

Soon the air was filled with gunfire from all directions, and Harris immediately had the answer to his ponderings.

The radio was alive with reports of contacts from all sides, and the fire intensified every second.

"We walked right into the fucking hornets' nest!" Harris shouted.

"_Assassin Two, this is Assassin Two Actual. Second squad, provide support for first squad as they maneuver through the buildings. Third squad, take up security,"_ they heard Bradford say over the radio.

"Fuck that! We're gonna get slaughtered if we move from this position! We are pinned down sir, we are pinned down!" Harris yelled into his radio. He looked to his left.

"Colbert! The building to your 9! Take it out!" Harris shouted.

Colbert pushed his squad into the building. As they heard the fire inside the building, they noticed the fire hitting their positions slacken up a bit. But only a bit. They needed help if they were going to take the initiative from the enemy.

"Assassin Two, this is Assassin Two One. We need close air support up here, over," Harris said.

"Harris, we can't get shit right now. Battalion is falling on its ass right now. Do what you can," Bradford said.

Back up at the front, where it seemed Hell had decided to pay a visit, things were only getting worse. The fire was intensifying, and they had already suffered two severe casualties. But with the fire so intense, and the lack of close air support, it was doubtful that they could cas evac them in time to save them.

Bleeding out in a fucking American city.

"Colbert, how's your squad doing?" Harris asked.

No reply came. He tried again.

"Colbert, buddy, how's it going? You guys need support?" Harris asked.

Just then they heard a wet smack on the pavement.

"What the fuck was that?" someone yelled.

"Mattingly, gimme some cover fire. I need two," Harris said. Tryding and Johnson, guys in Rydberg's team, ran up to him.

"Now!" Harris yelled as he crossed with the other two. What he saw when he got there made him throw up right there.

It was Colbert's skin.

They fucking skinned him.

Who the _fuck_ were these guys?

Suddenly they heard an unmistakable _thwump-thwump_. Air support? Really?

Then Harris noticed something was wrong. It was a Vietnam-era Huey. Green…no markings.

"Oh shit…" Harris said.

It was the latest thing to happen that made Sergeant Harris think that God was literally taking a gigantic shit on them.

TH had a fucking Huey.

"Hey, think they had any intel on _that_?" Mattingly said with his usual wit, taking this opportunity to enjoy what might be his final dip.

"Could this day get any fucking worse?" Harris said rhetorically.

"You could die without a dip in," Mattingly said.

"Gimme the fucking can," Harris said, and quickly threw a sizeable pinch into his lip.

Just then, the Huey started its attack run, and the Marines braced themselves for the high caliber, high velocity bullets to bring an early end to their lives.


	5. Chapter 5

Operation Fortitude

Chapter 5

Super Powered Saviors

John Stewart was not a happy man. Rather than being sent to Europe to help the bulk of the League investigate whatever was happening, he was stuck up on the Watchtower. With Superman gone investigating new findings regarding Krypton, the League was rather depleted. And that left just him and Shayera the only ones able to respond to a crisis should the need arise.

"John, look at this!" he heard Shayera say from the main computer room.

"What is it? What's going on?" he said as he ran into the room.

"The crisis in Jump…something's gone wrong…" Shayera said with dismay.

"What is…" John said as what he saw caught the rest of his words in his mouth. Marines on patrol in Jump were pinned down under heavy fire. His _brothers_. Sure, he had left the Corps years ago, but the kinship he felt watching those men on the screen made the welling of pride in wearing the uniform come back to him. His fellow Devildogs needed help.

"We're going down there."

Thirty seconds later, the two were at a teleportation center, awaiting the machine to send them down into the fight.

"Ready to teleport, sir," the technician at the station said.

"Hit the switch," John said. As the tech said it, almost instantaneously they both appeared in the middle of Jump City.

Flying up to spot where the Marines were pinned down exactly, John saw it. And something else that was truly horrific.

A Huey gunship.

Shayera flew up next to him, and expressed similar shock upon seeing the helicopter preparing an attack run to gun down the Marines.

"Are they going to try and wipe them out with that? I didn't think the Marine Corps issued anti-air weapons to infantry units," Shayera said, her anger rising.

"They don't," John said, his voice determined.

"Well then, let's even up the odds!" Shayera yelled, and before John could react, she was already in flight to take out the helicopter.

"Get some," John said under his breath as he flew in behind her.

///

"Lay down some fire! Maybe we'll get lucky!" Harris yelled to his Marines.

"Hey Sergeant…what the fuck is that?" Johnson asked.

"I don't fucking believe it…" Harris said, stunned. No shit. The Justice League to the fucking rescue.

"Huuuargh!" they heard Hawkgirl yell as she slammed her battle mace into the main rotor of the gunship.

Hearing the alarms go off and seeing the helicopter spiral out of control, some of the Marines took the time provided by the drop-off of fire to take up better positions and begin clearing out buildings.

Harris however, kept his team glued to the spot, ready to kill any survivors.

After seeing the 'copter slam down and explode on the ground, Harris was seriously doubting that.

His Marines cheered the destruction as Hawkgirl stood on top of the wreckage and let out a battle cry.

The scene was silent for a moment…then…

"BAMCIS!" Mattingly yelled out. Harris smacked his Kevlar.

"Marines! We've been given a new lease on life! Let's show TH how the Marine Corps fights!" Harris yelled out.

"Oorah Sergeant!" Johnson yelled as he picked up his SAW and moved with his team as they stacked up outside a building, ready to begin clearing it.

Having watched the whole scene, John moved in to provide support. As he linked back up with Shayera, his face was in total disbelief.

"And just what was that?" John asked, somewhat indignant.

"I evened up the odds. Saved the day. You know…hero stuff," Shayera said, somewhat dismissive.

"Fine…let's help the Marines clear out this area," John said, flying up the street to clear out a building that he had seen rockets fired out of.

"Aren't you only allowed to use lethal force against enemies of the Green Lantern Corps?" Shayera asked as they flew to the building.

"Soon as they fire a shot at me, all that goes out the window," John said with a smirk as the pair flew through a hole in the roof. Clearing from top to bottom. Couldn't ask for a better situation.

"Holy shit! The Justice League!" they heard one of the enemy soldiers say.

"Take them out! We're gonna have enough trouble with the Marines!" one of their leaders said.

Several poorly placed shots came whizzing by them. John only smirked as he powered his ring up.

"Hate to break this to you gentlemen, but you have a problem with Marines inside this room!" John said as he fired a beam of energy at the nearest enemy. The man promptly disappeared from the face of the earth.

Fire began pouring in from all directions, and John and Shayera methodically eliminated all the men in the room.

Still not even aware of what his body was doing due to muscle memory, John began clearing the lower decks as Shayera fed him information of what was happening outside.

With the building cleared, and with John confident that no more rockets would be coming from the building, he moved outside to check on the progress of the Marines himself.

He had to step back into the building to avoid being shot by a sniper.

"Marines! Sniper in the Chase Building, at your two! Tenth story, third window from the right!" John yelled to the men outside.

"I got him! He's sighting in…" a Marine said as he did the same thing. John could see his concentration and focus, until…

BANG!

"Don't think he'll be a problem anymore, sir," the Marine said.

"You don't have to call me 'sir' Devil," John said.

"Get down!" Shayera yelled as she tackled the young man to deck.

"What the f.." he started before he saw what she was saving him from as an RPG flew over their bodies.

"Did you see where it came from?" they heard a Marine say.

"Came from that four story next to the gas station!" John said in reply as he began flying towards the building.

Down the street, Harris and Mattingly watched the events transpire after exiting the building they'd cleared.

"Hey Harris, if they can do all this shit, can we just go back to the FOB, dip, work out, and just hang out with our buddies?" Mattingly asked jokingly.

"Shut the fuck up and get back to work," Harris said while shaking his head. He couldn't really be mad though. For all the Corporal smoked and joked, he did more than his fair share in combat.

"Ha-ha…aye-aye Sergeant."

As the day went on, the area the Marines were attacked in was gradually cleared out. By nightfall, nearly sixty buildings had been cleared, and they holed up for the night.

Walking through the area, John looked at the remnants of the carnage from the chaotic afternoon. Rubble crowded the street, bodies lay everywhere, and the unmistakable stench of death crowded the air.

A good start in John's opinion. This wasn't some silly little police action, or a peacekeeping ploy that needed a million rules and regulations in place. No, this was a war, and needed to be treated as such.

Walking along the street, John passed a building that some of the Marines had taken over as a place to rest and ready themselves for the next day. He noticed a couple of them standing watch outside of it. He stopped to talk to them.

"Busy day, wasn't it?" he asked them.

"Yeah, we thought for sure we were toast till you and Hawkgirl showed up," one of them said.

"Brah, that shit was extreme! She came out of nowhere and fucked their world up!" the other said.

"Roberts, shut up. Mr. Lantern doesn't want to hear that shit," the other admonished.

"No, it's all good gents. I was in the Marine Corps myself before another Corps recruited me," John said.

"No shit…with who?" Roberts asked.

"I was with 2/1 over at Horno," John said.

"Really? I got a buddy in 2/1. We went to SOI together. Motherfucker was a dead-eye killer with the SMAW," the other one said.

"Hey Wesley, you got any dip? I ran out today," Roberts asked.

"Yeah, I gotcha covered," Wesley said as he pulled out his tin of Copenhagen.

"Yes! Whiskey Blend," Roberts said as he took out a pinch and placed it.

"Do you want any sir?" Wesley asked John. He was taken slightly aback. Sure, he'd participated in his share of vices during his time in the Corps, dip being one of his favorites, but he hadn't done it in years. Public image was key to maintaining public support of superheroes, and one who used tobacco probably wouldn't be considered a role model.

Fuck it. He was a Marine first and foremost.

"I'll take some," John said as he pulled a pinch out of the can and placed it. The familiar buzz came back, as did the need for constant spitting. But it was a comforting thing, to be back among his brethren, doing the same bullshit that he used to do during downtime back when he was in the Corps.

"What's your rest plan?" John asked.

"Uh, 25% right now. We've got some guys inside watching for snipers or movements in the buildings we cleared, but this and three buildings down are where we're holed up for the night," Roberts said.

"It's a pretty hellacious rest plan. Kinda fucking rocks," Wesley said.

"Any word on when you guys are heading back to the FOB?" John asked.

"LT got on the hook with Chaos. We're supposed to egress back to the Humvees at first daylight and then haul ass back to base," Roberts said.

"You guys gonna get any rest at the FOB before your next mission?" John asked.

"We're not entirely sure, but they have like, two companies on standby back there. They're only sending out about two or three platoons a day on patrol. The rest of us are basically QRF until shit really starts to go down," Wesley said.

"Good to know that they're at least telling you something," John said.

"Yeah, pretty sure LT had to promise Chaos some head to get what he did out of him. For example. They told us that we we're gonna have another week of training, _at least_, until they said 'fuck that,' scrubbed the training, and sent us all down here. We had like, 10 minutes to pack our shit," Wesley said.

"Yeah man, shit was fucking ridiculous. We woke up expecting the training cycle to continue, then we got told to mount up and bust back to Horno. They told us to be back outside with all of our shit that we would think we'd need in fifteen minutes. I barely had time to grab my essentials," Roberts said.

"Do you think the other two platoons got hit this hard?" John asked.

"Nah…LT's been on the radio for the past two hours, getting better SA. They had a couple potshots, but they came out relatively unharmed. Seems like we're the only unit out of any military outfit here that almost got their shit ruined," Wesley said.

Situational awareness was key in a setting like this. With limited information, scarce knowledge of the terrain, and aware of the fact that the military would be facing the high possibility of heavy urban combat, any good word was treated as sacred material.

Knowing that other Marines made it through the city better than they did gave them all a little more hope. Maybe TH didn't have as many men as previously thought.

"Command lift the ban on air support?" John asked.

"They're debating it pretty hardcore with super higher ups. A lot of the generals are antsy about Hellfire missiles and 30mm guns going off inside a US city. Our battalion COs are making a counterargument to the effect of, 'how many body bags do you want to see when this op is over?'" Wesley said.

"Man, I'd fucking love to see a fucking Cobra swoop right in and fuck some bitches up!" Roberts said.

Looking at his watch John saw that he needed to be moving. Shayera was expecting him to rendezvous with her at the Slusho building in three minutes so they could plan their next move.

"Alright gents, I have to be moving. You take care," John said.

"Oorah," they replied.

Walking up to the building, he saw Shayera waiting for him.

"John. Good. See anything unusual?" she asked him.

"Didn't see a thing. Talked to some Marines standing watch a few buildings up the road. We talked for about five, ten minutes. Got some good word from them," John replied.

"What is that in your mouth?" Shayera asked.

"Oh. It's uh…it's dip. I used to do it a lot more when I was in the Corps, but quit when I was selected for the Green Lantern gig. One of the men back there offered me a pinch. It was a bonding moment. Just wish somebody would've had a camera. Could've sent that in to Kodak," John said.

"I must confess, I've heard such lewd conversations as I have tonight. You wouldn't believe some of the things some of those men said to me," Shayera said with a slight growl.

"Easy now…They're Marines. You should kind of expect this from them. Think of it as a badge of honor. You saved all their lives today by taking out that Huey. I'm surprised they didn't share any chow or smokes or something with you," John said.

"One of them offered me some of this…'dip' that you say you took from them, but the smell of it alone convinced me to turn it down. The things military men do…" Shayera said.

"Aw, leave them alone. It was a hard day. Six hours ago, they were saying their last goodbyes to this earth. Don't fault them for celebrating the fact that they're alive," John said.

"I'm not…it's just…When I was back on Thangoria, I thought it was bad back then. The things that would be said to me! But here, it just seems different…" Shayera said wistfully.

"It's the Marine Corps. That's all you can do to explain it," John said.

"Speaking of the Marine Corps, I'm amazed at how fast you slipped into the battle. I've seen you fight dozens of times, and it was never with the machine like way you did today. Care to explain?" Shayera said.

"Muscle memory I guess. Bullets start flying at you, training just sorta kicks in. It's been years since I last held a rifle in combat, but I guarantee you that if you handed me one now, in this situation, I would've performed the same way.

"There's a certain kind of rush you get from being in combat like I was today…it's hard to explain. Yes, the ring grants me a certain invulnerability to things like bullets, but there's always the knowledge that something could go wrong and you could end up waxed.

"I guess I was just happy to be back in the groove of what I did," John said.

"Well, it looks like you'll get a fantastic opportunity to continue what you did today," Shayera said.

They stood together as they looked around the city, only just beginning to understand the epic struggle that would take place here.

Several building up the way, ten men sat crowded around their radio.

"Assassin Actual, this is Assassin Two Actual. Interrogative: Are our orders to immediately egress upon daybreak, or continue patrolling and egress in the afternoon?" Bradford asked.

"_Assassin Two, this is Assassin Actual. Withdraw at daybreak to the vehicles,"_ came the voice of Captain Uncapher, their company commander.

"Roger that. Assassin Two Actual out," Bradford said as he put the radio up.

"Same mission sir?" Harris asked.

"Yes. We get back to the vehicles, we bust ass back to the FOB, where I'm sure we'll be pampered by Thai masseuses and eat lobster and crab legs for two weeks while we recover," Bradford said.

"When did we join the Army sir?" Reyes asked with a smile on his face.

"Alright gents, here's the situation. We have two minor casualties in second squad, flesh wounds, shouldn't be anything too serious. We managed to clear out a large section, which I have to congratulate you gentlemen on an outstanding job today. You completed a very difficult job under extremely harsh conditions, and for that I commend you.

"Now, the bad news. Based off of what intelligence we have, we can be reasonably certain that we're facing up to ten thousand of these guys in the whole city. Washington is considering sending in another battalion, or sending in an entire MAGTF to secure the city. It's obvious that this has gravitated beyond a simple peacekeeping operation.

"What does this mean for us? Basically, this every time we're outside the security area. A few more missions like this one, and battalion might just declare the whole city hostile," Bradford said.

"Whoa…a free fire zone sir?" Colbert asked.

"Not quite, but almost. They're already working on getting the air support ban lifted. And we might be rolling with tanks next time we move out," Bradford said.

"For decades we deployed men all over the world for years in the hopes that they would safeguard Europe and the rest of our allies from rows of Soviet soldiers and lines of Soviet tanks rolling through the cities. Now, it appears we're about to do the same thing," Harris said, finishing off his cigarette.

The men paused to reflect on the true reality of the situation they had been thrust into. As they looked out the window of the shattered building they occupied, they thought long and hard about the fight ahead of them.

They had only just begun.

///

Glossary of Terms for those Unenlightened

L.T.- Lieutenant

QRF- Quick Reaction Force. Reserve force sent in to save other peoples asses.

SA- Situational Awareness.

Kevlar- Term for the bullet-resistant helmet issued to Marines.

SOI- School of Infantry. Training area where all Marines with the Infantry MOS are trained.

MAGTF- Marine Air-Ground Task Force. The largest of all deployable Marine Units, this is essentially an all in one warfighting bonanza.

FOB- Forward Operating Base. Small camp set up to provide a common location to send patrols out from, and cycle units through for rest and recovery.


	6. Chapter 6

Operation Fortitude

Chapter 6

Age Old Traditions

As dawn broke over Jump City, it began to wake up. In normal times, families would be getting their children ready to go to school, businesses would begin prepping for the work day, and loud-mouthed talk radio hosts would begin researching the news for any items that would support what they were going to say that day.

But it wasn't a normal day. Today, the majority of the population was hunkered down in their homes or feverishly finalizing plans to bust out of the city to escape the fighting. After what had happened yesterday, one would be a fool to think they could wait out this storm.

In the area of the city so cleverly designated Sector 3, the Marines not already on watch woke up and stowed their gear back inside their packs, checked ammo, and began going over the plan for the day.

"Assassin Actual, this is Assassin Two Actual…we are preparing to move out of the area and link back up with our vehicles, how copy?" Bradford said into his radio.

"_Negative Assassin Two. You are ordered to continue moving through the area. Second and Third Platoon will be reinforcing you as you make your way through, over," _Captain Uncapher said from back at the FOB.

"Interrogative: are we going to be resupplied?" Bradford asked.

"_Unknown at this time. Stand by."_

"You gotta be fucking kidding me," Bradford said to himself. They'd gotten lit up, burned through at least half their ammo, and now battalion wanted them to continue moving through the city. Fucking great.

"_Assassin Two, this is Assassin Actual. Two helos will be dropping off ammo and chow at a location you will designate. How copy?"_

"Solid copy. Assassin Two out."

Time to go let the men know…

After he'd received the good news last night, Sergeant Harris went back to his building and passed the word he had. So it was a little unsettling to see the LT walk up to him a good hour before they were supposed to be moving out.

"Harris, I have some bad news," Bradford said.

"Oh no…did the Cowboys lose last night?" Mattingly said, turning his attention away from his gear.

Ignoring him, Harris looked back at the LT.

"What might that be, sir?" he asked.

"Battalion has ordered us to continue patrolling through this area. First and Second Platoons will be reinforcing us, and we're getting a resupply by helo at an area we designate," Bradford said.

"Sir, I was under the impression that battalion knew how fucked up we almost got the other day and was reassessing how they were going to fight this war," Harris said.

"I was also under the impression that we were going to get another week of training before we stepped off for Jump. Word changes fast. Have your men ready in ten Mikes," Bradford said.

"Yes, sir," Harris said. As Bradford and Gunny left, he turned around to his team.

"We got fucked by the big green weenie again, didn't we?" Mattingly asked.

"Looks like it. Stow your gear, check your ammo, and get ready to get lit up again. We're Oscar Mike in ten Mikes," Harris said.

Fucking officers, Harris thought.

Walking back to his building, Bradford raised Chaos on his radio.

"Chaos Actual, this is Assassin Two Actual, over," he said.

"_This is Chaos Actual. Standing by,"_ the Marine on the other end said.

"I'm requesting backup from the Teen Titans. I don't think two superheroes is going to be enough," Bradford said.

"_Assassin Two, this is Chaos Actual. Request is approved. We're rounding them up now. How copy?"_

"Solid copy. Assassin Two out." Well, at least they had more backup.

"You get that backup sir?" Gunny Quinn asked.

"Yeah, for all the good it'll do us. We're looking at another hard day. We might suffer some real serious casualties today, so we'll need to be ready for cas evacs. We need to find a good spot to get that resupply as well," Bradford said.

"I think there's a park a little bit up the way here. Good open space, and within the secured area. We can rendezvous with the Titans up there," Quinn said.

"I like that plan. We'll pass that word along to the TLs here when we step off," Bradford said.

"Sir! Platoon is ready to step!" Harris yelled to him.

Just as Harris yelled that, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl flew in to the assembly area to get their instructions.

"You guys sure you want to be taking orders from the military? Might put you at odds. You'll probably be used in ways that don't really utilize your special talents," Bradford said.

"We came here to help any way possible, and that's what we intend to do. Semper Fi," Green Lantern said.

"Semper Fi, GL. Alright, I need you two on point to act as scouts and bait. They focus their attention on you, we pinpoint where the fire is coming from, and move to take out the bad guys," Bradford said.

"Roger that," Green Lantern said as he and Hawkgirl flew to their positions.

"Alright! We're ready to step!" Bradford yelled to his platoon.

As they moved up to the park, Bradford heard something…it sounded like…singing?

"F-U-C, K-E-D, A-G-A-I-N! Who's the branch that always fucks us over in the end? F-U-C, K-E-D, A-G-A-I-N, we never get the gear we need and then we end up dead! Marine Corps! Mar-ine Corps! They guarantee to always fuck you in the ass!"

Apparently the men hadn't taken the recent developments in their op as stoically as some might've wished for. But Bradford found himself restraining his urge to join in. It wouldn't look very good in front of the younger Marines for an officer to join in their ripping of their command.

Still, they had a point, however blunt it might've been. After one of the most horrendous days he'd ever witnessed, battalion wanted them to keep pushing. It was an idiotic plan at best, and would most likely get them all killed.

All they could do was do what they did best- fight and win.

Moving up on the park, they found that the area was relatively secure, and a quick radio call confirmed a bird was inbound to drop off supplies. Now the question was, where the fuck were the Titans?

"Assassin Actual, this is Assassin Two. Any word on backup from the Titans, over," Bradford said.

"_Assassin Two, this is Assassin Actual. We're raising them right now. Stand by," _the response came.

"Standing by, over."

"_Assassin Two, this is Assassin Actual. We have confirmation on them heading to your location. ETA, two Mikes. How copy?"_

"Solid copy. Assassin Two out."

With the Titans and the resupply helo inbound, there was nothing left to do except set up security and wait.

"Why do they need all five of us again? Shouldn't two members of the Justice League suffice?" Raven asked as the Titans moved to rendezvous with the Marines.

"They ran into some real big problems the other day. Their command mentioned something about needing more backup," Robin said. Ever since he'd attended the briefing put together by the battalion commanders, he was impressed with their goals. This however, bordered on idiotic.

"Must've been something big if the Marines need help," Beast Boy said.

"Early after-action reports indicated that TH had a Huey gunship. Justice League swooped in and saved the day," Cyborg said.

"How come they did not immediately request support from more people? I believe Speedy and Jinx were in that area the other day," Starfire said.

"They didn't have comms with the Marines in the area. They're still working on getting a unified comm system set up between us and them. Until then, a lot of units out on patrols don't have comm links with us," Robin said.

"Yeah. I've been working nonstop since they got here. I've barely had any time to recharge," Cyborg said.

"We're almost there. Try not to be to be shocked by how the Marines act. They've just been through some hard combat, and from what I've seen at their camp, they're not the most well-mannered people in general," Robin said.

Arriving at the rendezvous point, the Titans sought out Lt. Bradford to receive a briefing on the situation.

"All right ladies and gents, this'll be short and sweet. We've been ordered to bust ass through the city, try and take out as many bad guys as possible, and then get picked up by our Humvees at VCP 3 in Sector 4 of the city," Bradford said to the group.

"What should we do if we spot someone?" Cyborg asked.

"Wax them," Bradford replied.

"You mean…" Beast Boy said with horror.

"If you have moral or ethical qualms about it, at least point them out so my Marines can take them out. You'll most likely be on point drawing fire anyways. You guys heard of running the rabbit? Guess what. You're the rabbit," Bradford said.

"That seems a bit suicidal for us," Raven said.

"Oh really? Because superheroes on this planet have long been known to be susceptible to projectile weapons fielded by modern militaries. You guys get the bad guys to come out, and we come through and make it a bad day for them," Bradford explained.

"I still don't like it. Too much risk for casualties," Robin said.

"You want me to issue your whole team flak and Kevlar? Tough shit. Grow the fuck up and deal with it. Ask GL and Hawkgirl where they want you," Bradford said, making a motion with his hands as to dismiss the Titans.

Walking up towards the point where Green Lantern and Hawkgirl were posted, they quietly grumbled to each other about how they were being used in this war. Aside from gathering intel, what use were they?

Apparently, bait.

"Sir, we've been static for too long. We should get moving," Harris said.

"That's a good idea Sergeant. Second Platoon, we are on the move!" Bradford yelled out.

As they moved through their patrol, the sector of the city seemed relatively quiet again. In other areas, Bradford could hear the sounds of civilization leaking through the urban shield, but in the sector he was patrolling, it smelled like another ambush.

"Sergeant Harris, make sure we're watching the windows, and have the JL and TT members push out further. The enemy might see us in the same area and realize what's going on," Bradford said.

"Roger that sir. All Tango Limas, all Tango Limas…" Harris said as he moved back up with his team.

With the information relayed, the Marines continued to patrol, and shifted their focus as the superheroes pushed farther away from the main body.

Suddenly…

BOOM!

"IED!" someone shouted as reports of gunfire erupted from several buildings.

"Corpsman!" another shouted.

"Net call, net call, get the Corpsman up to the wounded. Get with Raven, have her set up a shield around the wounded. See if GL and Hawkgirl are already engaged, and push the rest of the units forward. Looks like we have another long day gentlemen," Bradford said into his radio.

"Second squad! Move up!" Harris yelled out.

"Raven! Get your ass up to the blast site! Set up a shield around Doc and the wounded! Everyone else, fan out! Fives, tens, and twenty-fives! Get your standoff!" Bradford yelled.

"Hammer Three, this is Assassin Two Two. Requesting immediate air support at this location: Grid 156 break break 789," Colbert said into his radio.

"_Assassin Two Two, this is Hammer Three. Hang tight, we got Cobras inbound_," the Marine on the other end said.

"Everyone get real small! We got helos inbound!" Colbert yelled out.

Marines all over the place hit the deck and waited for the close in air support to come and bail them out.

Meanwhile, Raven was extremely pissed off. Not only was she being forced to run up to these men under fire, put up a shield, and expect to hold said shield up while gunfire poured in all around her, that Lieutenant character had yelled at her like she was one of his Marines.

Naturally, she started getting angry. People who knew Raven knew that her being angry was not a good thing most of the time.

Her frustration at being dragged into this fight, being ordered around by seeming savages of men, and being told to move up to protect the wounded and having to watch them die as they slowly bled out from the wounds inflicted by the bomb, all culminated into one thing.

She snapped.

"Oh, shit," Harris said.

"I win the platoon pool!" Mattingly yelled.

Watching the demon grow to her full fury, Harris prepared to die for the second time in as many days.

A/N: Huge apology for the delay. Things are picking up quick fast and in a hurry here in Hawaii. With the main body back, and with training picking up paces quickly, it's getting hard to find time and motivation to write. Don't worry though. Even if the updates are months apart (expect this to happen sometime in November: deployment to the 'Stan) I will finish this story. Goddamnit, I promise you, I will finish it. That's all for now. Form it back up, and feel free to drop a review. Love it, hate it, got some ideas or constructive criticism, you know where to put it.


	7. Chapter 7

Operation Fortitude

Chapter 7

Hellfire

"Assassin Two, this is Hammer Three, inbound on your position…care to explain what the hell that is down there?" the pilot of the swooping AH-1 SuperCobra inquired over the radio.

"_Raven's gone berserk! We need to calm her down somehow!"_ Bradford said.

"Roger that Assassin Two. Hammer Three One and Three Two moving to attack," the pilot said.

"_Look at the size of that thing!"_ his partner said.

"Stay frosty. Follow my lead," as he dropped down and prepared to fire.

Robin was in a world of shit. The most composed member of his team had just snapped, and was possibly getting ready to annihilate the city. He had to work quickly.

"Cyborg! Try to raise the 'copters on the radio! Get them to focus on the insurgents! I've got to try and get her out of this!" Robin yelled to his teammate.

"Gotcha!" Cyborg replied as he began trying to get the Cobra pilots on the radio built into his arm.

Running, ducking, dodging, weaving, Robin defied every rule about firefights, and possibly some of the laws of physics and probability.

Running up to where Raven was rearing upward, getting ready to wipe out a team of Marines that had taken cover near some vehicles, and began yelling to try to get her to calm down.

"Raven! You have to stop! You have to snap out of it!" he yelled, trying to get her attention.

"**All those who have driven me to this will perish. No mercy**," Raven said. Apparently the battle with Trigon hadn't quite taken all the demon out her.

_Shit._

Racking his brain for solutions, he had to dive for cover as he heard a missile fly overhead.

BOOM!

Apparently the Marine Corps just said 'fuck you' to the designers of the Jump City Arts Center. To be fair, there were probably a dozen enemies in the building.

As long as Cyborg was working to keep them from attacking Raven, Robin didn't care. He had to focus on getting Raven back to her usual self.

"Raven! Please! You have to get control back!" Robin yelled.

"**Your concern is touching. However, it is no longer your worry,**" Raven said as she set her eyes on a SuperCobra circling around for another missile launch.

Bang!

Pink waves crashed around Raven, and she stumbled for a moment, trying to regain her balance. While this was happening, a boxing glove came flying out of the air and struck her in the head. She crashed to the ground, unconscious.

It would seem that Jinx and Speedy had found their position.

"Well, that seemed to work pretty well. Let's try and keep her from going crazy next time, huh?" Jinx said.

"Speedy, Jinx, nice to see you. Thanks for the help. As you can see, demons were the last thing we needed to deal with," Robin said as rounds whizzed overhead.

"Get to cover! TH is still active here in the area!" Harris shouted to them.

Sprinting to cover, Robin filled in Jinx and Speedy on the situation.

"We hit an IED. Two seriously wounded Marines, one lightly wounded. They had Raven help out the corpsman responding to the attack, and she got bitched at a little by Sergeant Harris over there, and snapped. Oh yeah, we called in air support," Robin concluded as a SuperCobra flew overhead again and unleashed a missile on a house full of enemy infantry who were probably hating life at the moment.

"Nice to see the military finally go balls to the wall on this little operation of theirs," Jinx said.

"Where do you need us?" Speedy asked.

"Go reinforce that squad over there by what's left of the Arts Center. They're about to assault the position just ahead and could probably use some help," Robin said.

"We're on it," Speedy said as he started laying down arrow fire and Jinx started sending out waves of…whatever she sends out. Probability disruptor matrixes or something…you could probably do a case study for decades on exactly what her superpower was.

As the Marines started clearing out more houses, Robin checked to make sure the corpsman was taking care of the wounded.

"How are they, Doc?" he asked.

"I stabilized them, but we need to get them out of here. Those two," he said, motioning towards two still bodies, "lost a lot of blood. We need to get them out of here immediately. PFC Bowman should be good to get back in the fight. Just took a piece of shrapnel to his arm," Doc Lloyd said.

"Right. Has the lieutenant been notified?"

"Yeah, I gave him an update. We're really caught in the shit here, so a casevac is going to be pretty difficult. But I think we might be able to push through up ahead. You'll have to talk to Sergeant Harris. He's been making all the calls in this one."

Walking away from Doc, Robin looked to see Starfire taking care of Raven. Looked like she was coming around.

"Robin! Raven should be okay, but I worry for her. What if she changes back?"

"We'll have to keep an eye on her. Move up and support the Marines."

"Yes Robin."

Starfire vaulted upward and flew towards a squad readying to enter a building.

"You here to help?" a grizzled sergeant asked her.

"Yes. Where do you need me?"

"Take point and lay down some good fire. We'll sweep in and take out the bad guys while they focus on you. Roger? When you feel the bump, it's time to move."

Starfire posted up in front of the squad, and the Marines stacked up behind her. As they made last second preparations for entering the building, Starfire wondered if she would be able to do her job without hurting anyone unnecessarily. She was proud of the fact that she'd never killed an enemy in battle, and she didn't plan on breaking that trend.

Feeling the bump from the Marine behind her, she blasted the door and began firing bolts in every direction. It was only after she felt a very hard _thwack_ in her back did she realize that she was still in the doorway.

"Move motherfucker! Get out of the fucking door!" the Marine yelled.

Stung from his harsh words, she moved quickly out of the way and kept on keeping the enemy's heads down. It wasn't until she saw one of them go down did she grasp how real the situation was.

Hit by a perfect hammer pair of bullets to his chest, it exploded as he fell backwards, his hands still gripping his weapon. As his friends turned to look to see what happened, the Marines poured into the building and began slaying bodies.

Seeing them take out their targets with ruthless efficiency, Starfire could feel herself start to lose her composure. This shouldn't be happening- she'd seen heavy fighting before. Why did this affect her more than the other fights?

"Left side clear!"

"Right side clear!"

"Overhead clear! Room's clear! Check the bodies! See what we can dig up!" she heard the sergeant she had talked to outside yell out.

"Excuse me, sir, I think I need to step outside…I am not feeling well," Starfire said meekly.

"That's fine. Your help saved my Marines. There's no way we could've taken these guys without your help. Go see who else needs help," the sergeant said.

Walking outside, Starfire saw Jump City, her adopted city, the city she had come to love, in chaos. Marines were running to and fro buildings, she could hear helicopters flying overhead and launching missiles, and the unmistakable stench of death hung in the air. Seeing a fire team pinned down behind some cars by a machine gun, Starfire flew up to the team to see how she could help.

"We're pinned down! Our SAW gunner got hit! If you cover us we can get him out of here! Cover on my mark!" the team leader yelled.

Readying herself, she jumped out on the team leader's word, and began spraying towards the machine gun position.

Checking to make sure the Marines were getting out okay, Starfire continued her assault on the gun position. She hoped the others were doing better than her.

Across the way, towards the Arts Center, Speedy and Jinx kept on laying down fire to cover their approach to the Marines stacked up against the building. Coming up on the squad, they noticed that the Cobras that were providing air support had left.

"Where'd they go?" Jinx asked.

"They ran out of missiles. Serpent Five and Serpent Six are coming on station here in a minute. Brass doesn't want us without a constant overwatch from the helos," the squad leader said.

"Hey Bergman! We're a little exposed here! Let's get moving!" a Marine called from the back.

"Just shut the fuck up! You do your job, I'll do mine, good to go?"

"Just don't get us all fucking killed!"

"Insolent cocksucker…anyways, there's three entrances. I'm taking the first team in, Lance Corporal Williams is taking team two in, and you two are going to lead team three in. Roger?"

"Why us?" Speedy asked.

"Gotta use you guys somehow, and a couple guys in team three took some shrapnel. They're fine, but I'd like some extra firepower with their team," Bergman said.

"Got it," Speedy said.

"We'll do what we can," Jinx said.

Running to link up with team three, Jinx looked around at the city. Fires were burning, rubble and Marines were everywhere, and the roar of battle consumed the area.

It was her kind of town now.

Linking up with team three, Jinx and Speedy took the front and prepared to enter the building.

"We'll kick it open, you guys go in and start wrecking shop. Roger?" Lance Corporal James said.

"Got it," Speedy said, stacking up behind Jinx while he prepped an arrow.

James stood next to the door, counting down.

"GO!" he yelled as he kicked the door wide open.

Jinx and Speedy moved through the doorway, laying out a path of destruction while the Marines came in behind them and began shooting the men inside.

"Gimme an AADRAC!" a Marine yelled out. (AADRAC-a general direction and area of an enemy)

"2 o' clock, second floor!" Speedy yelled out.

Moving his sights to the enemy, the Marine was suddenly shot in the side of the head. He crumpled to the floor, his body still.

"Shit! Sutton's down!" another yelled.

"Worry about the enemy!"

"Frag out!" James yelled.

Everyone took cover while the grenade went off. Jinx felt sharp pains all through her leg as she was hit by shrapnel.

"Fuck!" she screamed out.

"Rasmussen, get the 9-line going! Get support in here, and get Jinx and Sutton out of here!" James yelled.

Rasmussen started to reply only to be shot in his side by an AK, the heavy 7.62 tearing through his chest cavity.

For the first time in his Marine Corps career, Lance Corporal James was terrified. He'd been on three combat deployments, seen some of the heaviest fighting in the current century. But nothing had prepared him for the brutal savagery of this battle.

He yelled for support, not knowing and not caring if and when they would come.

Jinx watched the Marine yell, tried to stop her bleeding, and tried to get a grip on herself before she went into shock.

_Well, this is all fucked up,_ Jinx thought to herself.

It seemed no matter how many times the military fought in an urban environment, they never fully realized the problems going in. The one time she figured they did was in Fallujah, when they expected sixty five percent casualties.

She finished applying the dressing she'd taken from the Marine next to her. With her bleeding stopped, she began to calm down a little. She saw Speedy returning fire to her right, and began moving over to him.

Once she was over there, she began helping him. There were still eight motherfuckers still in the room, and she was getting tired of yelling just to hear herself.

"Goddamnit! Speedy, on three! We're blowing these fuckers away!"

"You got it!"

"One, two, three!"

On three, the two unleashed everything they had. Jinx was firing waves as fast as she could conjure them, and Speedy was firing so many arrows it sounded like a machine gun was in the room.

Once the dust settled, James got up. He was stunned to see the sudden barrage from the two heroes. He hadn't quite expected them so ready to take lives. They'd been briefed that most of the heavy lifting would have to be done by the Marines, with the heroes playing more of a support role. If they were ready to kill though, this made their job a hell of a lot easier.

"Wish you guys could've been like that from the start. It's all starting to change. Those Cobras you saw today? Just the beginning. That's the word anyways. They're deploying arty, tracks, hell, I heard they're rerouting the entire Third Regiment here, and almost every tank at Pendleton is getting ready to come here.

"I really hope you guys don't have houses or property here. Cause I have a feeling to save this city, we're gonna have to destroy it," James said.

"_In other news, battles continue to rage in Jump City, as Marines, metahumans, and local law enforcement wage a brutal street by street fight with the terrorist organization known as Thor's Hammer. Live with more is Dan McNeely. Dan?"_

"_Jump City used to be a popular tourist city situated nicely just a stone's throw from Los Angeles. Now? You would be hard pressed to tell Jump from Fallujah. Marines and Army Rangers continue to pour into the city, more buildings are taken every day, and what little that was left of the civilian populace has been evacuated._

"_It's one of the largest refugee problems in history, and for one of the few times in history, the United States is having to deal with it inside our own borders. Camps have been set up a few miles away from the coast, and many in the country have already donated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, food, and medical supplies._

"_The prevailing question, the one that everyone is asking, is 'when can we go home?' It's a question that's been difficult to answer. DoD officials estimate that about fifteen percent of the city has been cleared, a far cry from the fifty or so expected by this stage of the operation. But nobody expected the level of resistance that has been encountered in the city._

"_Already the Marines have taken eighty casualties, among that almost fifty KIA. Most of the dead and wounded were taken in the latest battles today, when three companies of Marines and three precincts of police launched an assault on the Midtown area, a known stronghold possibly containing several high ranking Thor's Hammer officials. No word has been given on what the estimated enemy casualties are._

"_And some disturbing news has been discovered. While only fifteen percent of the city has been cleared, the military's strategy has been to target large areas known to have a high concentration of enemy personnel within them. The intel taken so far suggests this may not be an isolated incident._

"_In fact, they're worried that something could spring up somewhere else. And soon. I'm Dan McNeely, reporting to you live from Jump City."_

"Jimmy, all I need is a timeline. How long can we hold out?"

"Given the way they're ramping up operations, and given the number of troops we have left, I estimate two, maybe three more weeks. Four if we can get the mines going."

"It is unfortunate we had to start here, but Jump was the only place we could start without attracting undue attention. I must say Jimmy, I'm impressed with your plans. Orchestrating a mass evacuation was the only way we would've been able to move our supplies to cells in other cities without them being checked too thoroughly. Now, how is our other plan coming?"

"We've located a man with the skills and experience necessary to pull off the job. I'm flying to Gotham tomorrow to meet with him."

"Excellent. Now that we've grabbed the country's attention, let's give them some more shocking news. Dead Marines are tragic, but the death of a superhero, especially one of their golden boys, is truly soul-crushing. Ensure Robin is not killed before we enact Phase Two."

"Yes sir."

"I grew up knowing that this country would need a radical shift in philosophy to protect itself from future horrors. I just hope I still have a country left to lead when this is all over."

The two men looked at each other. Such moments in life are rare, knowing that the balance of the country, indeed the world, rested on their shoulders.

That night in Jump, as Marines holed up in houses they had fought so bitterly to clear, a sense that things would continue to go the way they had been settled in. A sense that the darkness that came before the dawn had not yet set in. A sense that more of their friends would be killed.

They were right.


	8. Chapter 8

Operation Fortitude

Chapter 8

Browning M2 .50 cal Heavy Machine Gun

It was a goddamn blessing to be the interim Special Crimes Chief, Jimmy Winkleblack thought. There was no other way he was going to be able to get on his flight out of LAX to Gotham today. And it was essential he make this flight. The military had locked down on all outgoing transmissions from Jump, so setting up the deal over encrypted email and wire transfer was out, and they needed this man.

Looking over the file, it was astounding they had found this man. Oh well. Anyone's record can be found with enough digging and resources, and this guy's was impressive.

Over the last decade, he had managed to assassinate several high-ranking public officials in countries as far away as Thailand and states as close as Oklahoma. It seemed that personal politics didn't matter to him. He'd do a job for anyone whose checks didn't bounce.

He was perfect.

Leaving the Gotham Airport, he hailed a cab and was dropped off at the meeting location. A nice, quiet café. Not too many bystanders, and out of the territory of most of the major crime families. Not that he was worried about eavesdroppers. Most of the criminal underground in the country had gone even further underground when the war broke out in Jump. No need to be even remotely linked to anything that might be seeing use in the city.

From what he'd heard, a lot of the main players were busy covering their tracks, making their alibis and record books bullet proof for the day Batman came back from Europe.

Lovely little plan that turned out to be. Throw an insane amount of money that you generated from front businesses and bogus charities at disgruntled neo-Nazis and other unsavory political groups and watch the fun happen.

The Justice League was trying to follow the money and report their findings to Interpol and various intelligence agencies. It'd never happen.

Ah, his man was arriving. Jimmy ordered a cup of coffee and sat down, playing with his phone and looking uninterested in everything that was happening around him.

The man walked into the café, spotted him, and sat down across from him at the booth.

"I hear Glenn Beck is staging a concerned citizen's rally," Jimmy said.

"Glenn Beck is a fat-faced asshole," replied the man.

It was their code, one they'd managed to agree upon in the waning hours of unrestricted information flow in and out of Jump. And it was true. Glenn Beck _was_ a fat-faced asshole.

"Easy time getting here?"

"Would've been harder had the man we hired not been able to assassinate my predecessor. Cope was a good man. It pained me to see him have to get killed. But we couldn't afford to bring anyone inside the department on board unless we knew for sure they'd be with us. We weren't positive on Cope. And looking back on it, I think he would've gone down fighting against us. He believes in the system too much. He was career same as I am, but he did it for the wrong reasons. He thought that he was helping his city by capturing criminals and helping the Titans," Jimmy said.

"And you? Why did you go career?"

"Me? I was ordered to. And I fought so hard, and for so long, to get the department to accept some of my ideas. Harsher interrogation techniques, less cushy jail conditions, less reprieves, more punishment, faster courts…the last one I didn't have any shot with, but I'd hoped that maybe city officials would've listened to me, before we decided to go ahead and launch. It was a futile effort."

"That may be. Maybe you shoulda just shot some motherfuckers. That woulda got people's attentions a lot quicker. And I can't wait to gun down Bird Boy."

"Oh yeah? You know his uniform's bullet proof right? Some kind of experimental Kevlar mesh that no one outside of Titan's Tower knows the full resistance capability of."

"Will a Kevlar mesh stop a well-aimed burst of .50 rounds?"

"Impressive. Who's your contact for the heavy weapons?"

"Trade secrets my friend. Rest assured, no matter what kind of armor that little faggot has on, it's not going to save him."

"I think Starfire might have a disagreement with you there. Anyway, what's the news been like? The military shut down all the transmissions in and out of Jump. We've heard some rumors, seen some snippets, but we're mostly in the dark."

"Here. Take a look at this," the assassin said as he handed him a sheet of paper.

_Congress Debates Legality of US Marines Involvement_

_A BBC Special Report_

_In a landmark decision two weeks ago, President Gates ordered two battalions of US Marines to enter Jump City, CA, United States, in order to stabilize a deteriorating situation. In hindsight, the decision seems brilliant, due to the heavy fighting that has broken out in the city._

_However, not all of the United States' leadership would agree._

_The Posse Comitatus act of 1878 prohibits the Army, and by a later amending of the law the Air Force, to be used in a combat situation inside the United States' borders. This was enacted to prevent the military from being used as a law enforcement tool. _

_Due to the rising violence in the city, our request to get into the city to witness it ourselves was denied by the US military, citing an unprecedented number of firefights as the reason for the denial. Seeing the pictures and short videos released by Marines a day later, we were glad the request was denied._

_Before the battle, Jump City was widely regarded around the world as a stunning city, one filled with neo-Modernistic architecture, among others, and was generally thought to be a model for the future._

_Now?_

_Now the city lies devastated and broken, a result of two weeks of fighting inside the city. Initially desperate to maintain good public order and to make sure they didn't escalate things, Marine Corps officials refused to let the infantry inside the city call on many of the things that has made the service so difficult to beat, and so feared- close air support, accurate artillery fire, and crew served weapons systems._

_The crux of the argument, and all the issues regarding the Marines' involvement, is, did the US Government break its own laws ordering them in there?_

_More importantly, if they were broken, who would be to blame?_

_Despite the overwhelming amount of fighting in the city, far beyond the capabilities of any local law enforcement, some in Congress maintain that the military should not have been sent in until the situation proved to be too much to handle._

_Some would argue that the conclusion of 'The Doctor Incident' in which several dozen members of the Jump City Police Force were killed in a pitched battle with a large amount of Thor's Hammer, proved that the situation would be too much to handle for an ordinary police force._

_Others would say the incident was an aberration, and could not be considered to be a sign of things to come._

_The debate is raging all across America, except of course, in Jump City. Inside the city, the few residents who remain must think of themselves living in a third world country, as all the basic amenities necessary for civilized human living have long since been destroyed in the fighting._

_And so the debate continues. While the politicians sort things out at the highest levels of American government, they waste time with words as once again their young men are sent into a situation that many consider unwinnable._

"Well…this is certainly interesting. Gotta love the BBC. Pull no punches. Especially when it's just the US you're reporting on," Winkleblack said.

"Reminds me of my days back in Stilwater with the Saints. Everything we did was instantly turned into a huge deal. All the other gangs got a free pass," the assassin said.

"You ran with the Saints? A buddy of mine worked under Bradshaw over in Stilwater. He said the Saints were the most brutal street gang he'd ever seen."

"Well, that's just outsiders opinions."

"By the way, never caught your name."

"Name's Gat. Johnny Gat."


End file.
